Showing results by publisher "Books in Motion" in Hard-Boiled

Freelance writer Emerson Ward is minding his own business one sweltering July day when Larry Forrester shows up at the door of his Chicago brownstone, accuses him of seducing his teenage daughter, Ellen, and tries to kill him. A week later, when Larry's ex-wife tells Emerson that Ellen has gone missing and asks him to find her, Emerson also learns that his girlfriend, Nell, is pregnant. While Nell and Emerson confront the difficult decision of whether or not to keep their baby, Emerson discovers that Ellen may have been facing the same dilemma.

Las Vegas in the 1960s...corrupt politicians, mobsters, and crooked cops competed for turf and power, and Christina Patterson, Sin City's top madam, knew how to play the game. Beautiful, yet smart and savvy, admired by clients and associates alike, she held the secrets of the most influential people in Vegas.

Eric Logan had just turned 16 and was looking forward to an exciting summer. Sitting in his secret spot near Lake Tranquility in the town of Eagle, Wyoming, Eric was making plans of adventure. Until an older boy spoke to Eric. He was tall, and had dirty hair hanging to his shoulders, yellow teeth and knew Eric’s nickname, Runner. He said his name was DeSade and Eric and nine other boys were going to be members of his gang, the Under My Thumb gang. Twenty years later, Logan is a Detective with the Eagle Police Department. He is called out to an unusual homicide.

Officer Lee Salter is a third-generation cop who bleeds blue. Amid the departmental chaos, he does the only thing he can—be a good officer. That means showing up for every shift, responding to calls for service, and always doing the right thing. All the while, the Department of Justice and its local supporters hope to catch another officer in its net of reform. Salter refuses to be that officer.

It started as a simple missing person case. Maria Castro came to private detective Ron Shade because her friend, Juanita, was desperate to find her fiancé. It all seemed pretty standard...until the missing fiancé was found floating in a canal. From there the search for something resembling the truth led Shade deeper and deeper into the darkness, in a world of murder, conspiracy, and cover-ups. But Shade won't be satisfied with the truth. He's looking for justice.

Failure analyst Owen Allison recently left his lucrative consulting practice in California to help his mother back home in West Virginia in her fight against cancer. His ex-wife and current lover, Judith, is also back on the West Coast, and now that his mother has mostly recovered, he's itching to get back to his life. But before he has a chance to leave his small hometown of Barkley, West Virginia, a local dam breaks, sending a black ribbon of coal sludge cascading miles and miles through the hollows across the region.

Kathryn Winchester, 33-years-old, has already lost three husbands to violence. The first died in the ravages of the War Between the States, the next died in a gambling hall in Hays, Kansas, and the third was killed in a pointless gunfight in Montana. Now her fourth husband, Ira, has been mysteriously gunned down and lies near death on the floor of their Idaho ranch house.

Hetta and her husband, Bob (Jenks) Jenkins, have finally broken free from the rat race of corporate America. Having forsaken the shackles of deadlines, they have been enjoying the soul liberating life of freedom. For the past five years, they have traveled on their boat, Jensky, meeting new friends and finding their true selves. Freedom, however, comes with a price.

Dagger comes face-to-face with his past in the form of an intruder who first wants to hire him, then tries to kill him. What triggered this response? The answer lies in a series of numbers which triggers Dagger's memory and leads him to a remote city, one mile below the surface, technologically advanced yet abandoned... or is it?

Nothing is as it seems in Cedar Point, Indiana. Three gang members appear to have died of natural causes. Then the medical examiner completes the autopsies and discovers the victims are missing their brains. When something strange rears its ugly head, the police turn to Chase Dagger. Aided by a partner who is a shapeshifter, unique high-tech toys, and a team of unusual cohorts, Dagger has a way of solving the most bizarre crimes. Although the case is intriguing, Dagger has something more important to deal with.

The Indiana Paranormal Investigators are spending the night in a gothic mansion on the outskirts of Cedar Point, Indiana. Four people are participating...only three remain in the morning. There have been other disappearances and homicides in the past connected with the mansion. And the one common denominator has been the weather. Fatal Storm finds Dagger and his entourage spending a night in the mansion to seek answers.

"....I didn't like it. But hey, that's what I'm hired to do. I deal daily with murder and mayhem. The real problem was when I had to go undercover and UNCOVERED in a nudist camp, or as they called themselves 'naturalist'. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against naked, especially when it comes in the form of one gorgeous blond tomato, but how did they expect me to protect anyone, when I have nowhere to conceal my gun?"

“The strait jacket’s canvas held my arms tight. My six-two was horizontal on a stretcher and the two bruisers carried it and my 205 pounds easily down the long corridor. I was confused as modern art, and being in this stupid asylum didn’t help. I was dumped onto a bed, yelling like a fiend. A needle, a stinging sensation in my neck and it was lights out for me. I awoke with a light beaming upon my face. A blade moved upward through the beam of light. And suddenly I was wide awake, thinking: This idiot is about to stab me! Me? I’m Shell Scott private eye and I’m in a lot of trouble...”

I'm no music lover and, what's more, I was the rascal they were dying to kill. Me. Shell Scott. "Where there's death, there's hope" - that was gangdom's newest slogan. I was measured for a grave and I was supposed to share it with a gorgeous redhead named Coral.

Constanza Carmocha was unarmed - that is, she didn't have a gun. Well, she really didn't need one, either. Because she had all the weapons that have ruined men from time immemorial or better said - time immoral. One unlucky guy ended up with his throat slit because of her, and another was about to be bumped off. Shell Scott was sure to get to the bottom of this deadly dame....

"'I'm trying to get back in shape,'" she said. Man, if her shape got any better she'd be banned for just walking down the street. I'm Shell Scott, private eye, and my job was to guard her day - yeah, and night. I didn't have a chance to discuss these points with her because I saw the man walking toward us. There was only one of him but he seemed to outnumber me. He was so big I was surprised his feet didn't leave holes behind him in the concrete. "Shell Scott," he rumbled. "Shake." I hardly dared....

'The scarlet bikini which had covered a minimum of the eye-popping curves on the dead woman, lay at her feet, and my eyes focussed on her as glassily as did the dead man’s next to her. He was dead, all right. He had been shot, poisoned, stabbed, and strangled. Either somebody really had it in for him or four people had killed him. Or else it was the cleverest suicide I’d ever heard of. Me? I’m Shell Scott, private detective and I’m wondering why anybody in his right mind would commit such a complicated murder....'

Shell Scott is hired to help State Senator Paul Hershey gather information against Joe Blake, one of the biggest crooks Los Angeles has ever produced. Joe Blake is the kingpin behind the opposition party to Paul Hershey’s re-election. Blake is backing the candidate against Hershey, a Blake pawn, and using smear and innuendo in an increasingly vicious campaign. Hershey’s only defense against this onslaught is to get the information that will put Blake behind bars. That’s where Shell Scott comes in.

They say that even the strongest man secretly wants to feel wanted. He even hopes to have some woman take care of him. Well, my cup was running over. Me? I’m Shell Scott, the human target for every gun in the State of California. And that’s no private eyewash...I was made to feel wanted all right...by the city, county and state police. And there was a woman with a nasty little .32 in her tiny hand, well she was just dying to take care of me, permanently. Everywhere I turned, somebody was trying to help me plan what to do with the rest of my life....

A brutal, psychopathic murderer is released from prison - and stalks his prey with intent to kill.